Forward Thinking in a Challenging Business Environment

“May you live in interesting times” may or may not be an authentic Chinese curse, but it certainly is an apt description of the challenging business climate of today.

Some of the headwinds and tailwinds that businesses currently face are driven by expected business cycle fluctuations and predictable long-term trends, such as digital transformation, global competition, and increasing concern about environmental sustainability. But the pandemic caused a sudden storm that has buffeted individual companies and entire industries and caused business leaders to seriously consider the critical importance of resilience, efficiency, and sustainability.

At Empire Screen Printing, we were well-prepared for the current situation and well-positioned for future opportunities and challenges, and our experience may serve as a useful model for other companies.

More than a decade ago, we embarked on a journey following a forward-thinking philosophy of continual improvement that includes Lean manufacturing principles and automation, together with a commitment to environmental sustainability. This approach has resulted in several innovations — some incremental and evolutionary, and some revolutionary in our industry — which have resulted in a dramatic reduction in lead time and quality improvements for our customers while making the work environment safer and reducing the impact on nature.

Let’s consider the challenges we have faced at Empire, from the global business and environmental issues that confront all companies to the particular problems we addressed within the screen printing market.

Economic Crisis

The pandemic has caused labor shortages intermittently during spikes in infections, as well as generally with the shrinking of the labor pool. Supply chain disruptions have led to volatility in demand and pressures to reduce production cycle time, requiring suppliers to be more flexible and responsive and to be able to ramp up production quickly. The “reshoring” trend has accelerated as companies turn to domestic suppliers to mitigate long shipping delays.

Environmental Concerns

The push for environmental sustainability comes from several directions. Companies are increasingly committed to sourcing eco-friendly materials and components as part of their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies. According to McKinsey & Company, 55% of U.S. consumers are extremely or very concerned about the environmental impact of the products they buy. During this tight labor market, Forbes reports that 65% of workers said they would be more likely to work for a company with robust environmental policies.

Digital Transformation of the Printing Industry

Digital transformation has disrupted the printing industry, as it has in many other areas. The 1,000-year-old screen printing process produces a better product than digital printing for many applications, especially in the appliance, electronics, automotive, and medical equipment industries, providing better control of colors and much higher durability. However, screen printing has traditionally been a complex, labor-intensive process with long lead times compared to digital printing. Although Empire has expanded into digital and flexographic printing, 60% of our business continues to be in screen printing. We have therefore led the way in technology and process innovations that keep it competitive and grow its market share.

Lean Manufacturing and Sustainability

How has Empire addressed these challenges? In 2008 we began our Lean manufacturing journey focused on streamlining production by eliminating waste in the process that our customers are not willing to pay for. The early initiatives included creating standard work instructions and process controls for quick changeovers and implementing a Kanban system so that work is available “Just in Time” for the next job.

The Lean manufacturing philosophy also includes organizing workers into cells, where each employee is trained on the whole process. They understand the potential problems that can happen in the steps before and after each process, empowering them to identify and correct problems more easily. The cell concept, together with the “one-piece flow” process consolidation, gives team members the responsibility to control the quality and output of the finished product. And because everyone is trained on every process, they can assist new employees in becoming productive significantly quicker.

In 2012, we complemented our Lean manufacturing approach with a company-wide commitment to environmental sustainability. Our sustainability journey started with research into how we can protect our employees from harmful chemicals and eventually grew into an extensive Environmental Management System (EMS) and our acceptance as a Wisconsin Green Tier 1 company in 2013. The EMS is a set of documented procedures and best practices that monitor our environmental impact and increase our operating efficiency, culminating in a detailed annual EMS report published on our website.

At every step of the way, all our initiatives and innovations have fulfilled both our Lean manufacturing goals and our sustainability goals. We have not needed to compromise one for the other.

Less harmful UV LED ink curing

For example, Empire revolutionized the screen printing industry with the introduction of its UV LED ink curing technology which is much better for our employees and for the environment. The combination of UV and LED in the manufacturing process doesn’t produce ozone emissions or harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs), eliminating the need for ventilation systems. Now, 100% of the ink we use ends up in the product, compared to the traditional solvent-based ink, where 40-60% evaporates into the air. Another benefit is that UV LED is 98% more energy efficient than traditional UV mercury curing.

One-piece flow of 12-color screen printing

The faster and more compact UV LED curing process enabled an advance in automating the entire screen printing production line. The industry standard for screen printing uses single-color sheet-fed equipment where each color is printed as a separate process — a serial process that extends over several weeks with lots of work-in-progress (WIP) waste. With the smaller LED lights, Empire’s industrial engineers fabricated an existing 6-color sheet-fed carousel press to a 12-color press without changing the footprint, creating 50% more productivity. Now jobs with more than six colors can be finished completely from raw material to finished goods.